Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic stunned in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open

Second seed Dinara Safina and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic are being as blue as their adidas outfits at the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, as both exited the tournament in the third round already.

The Russian world No.2 Safina lost 6-1 6-4 to Australian Samantha Stosur, while last week’s finalist at Indian Wells, Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, fell to unfortunately almost-forgotten Agnes Szavay of Hungary.

"It just bad match for me, it was just a disaster match," Safina commented.

After being upset Ivanovic said: "I hardly did anything well today. I was trying to come in and I was volleying pretty well at times, but I was really disappointed. I couldn't really hold my serve." (source: BBC, photos via Ana Ivanovic's website, Sony Ericsson Open)

14 thoughts on “Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic stunned in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open”

As a fellow Aussie, I should be ecstatic at Sam's monumental defeat and prominent highlight for Australian tennis- if I weren't preedominantly Dina's loyal fan… I am rendered speechless. I withdraw the comment I made the other day regarding the current state of the WTA- Dinara Dominance yesterday, from today onwards and towards tommorrow, Dinara downfall… Now she's plagued by Ivanovic's syndrome. How did this even eventuate? I could probably extend that answer into an essay, but I'll pain readers no longer.

There is no disturbance in the WTA force. I said this before Ivanovic is a half season player that is why she seems inconsistent. Dinara, to me she has always been inconsistent in her career. We have to wait for the changing of the guard; until the youngsters develop and start dominating the tour we will see the veterans dominate, in this case Venus, Serena and Sharapova depending on her shoulder. May the force be with Ana and Dinara.

Venus and Serena are once again proving that they are the most consistent players on the Tour. Nice to see Wozniacki, Azarenka and Stosur, three great players doing well. I don't know what is going on in Miami. 5 of the top 8 seeds gone. Just not good enough!!

It's true, the Williams sisters are proving to be the most consistent, and they deserve all the respect for it.

Zuleika, you are being very hard on Dinara, I agree with Carlos, Dinara's always been a very good player, but inconsistent too.

It is strange that so many top players exited the tournament so early, but it's not too surprising either when you think it through: Ana's been having problems, not to mention Jelena, Dinara's always inconsistent, Elena exited the Indian Wells early too. Zvonareva is the biggest surprise in the crowd.

Simply citing the characteristic ‘inconsistency’ is no longer plausible or to justify Dina’s shocking losses. Inconsistency is no longer acceptable for a champion with such a calibre; with a ranking of World. No.2, it is only logical and reasonable for fans on an international stage to expect at least the semi-finals from such players and their respective rankings. If Dina continues, she will indeed plunge into a career depression, at WNO, 10-20, this is negligible, but at WO.2. such successive third-round losses are purely shocking. One would think that her monumental successes last year was due to the eradication of such ‘inconsistency’ which hence would render these characteristic ‘excuses’ implausible.

And womenstennisblog.com is perfect without the spamming and false advertising please, Mark- such spaces can be legally purchased.

Don't really agree that Zvonerava going out was a big surprise. ITs not uncommon for them to have a slump after winning one tournament to have a slump in the next. Its pretty tough to keep up top form day after day for weeks on end .. like Rafa says, its rough if you win cos you have to keep playing!

…And she will be if she manages to restore her peak form during the latter half of 2008-nevertheless, she had a quarter of a year to do such and has yet to find the solution to the ultimate realm of gold glory. Though the present prospects are disheartening, Fina will emerge from the shadows to and hopefully revive the 'Dawn of Dinara Dominance'.

and hence you question Dinara's talent and potential of a championship? The ranking system is not 'stupid', it is a legitimate systematic mechanism but perhaps it is best like the entirety of the global tennis community to acknowledge each player's individual strengths and weaknesses and to not manipulate the facts via only presenting or (implying) once case.